At 27, Joseph Trigiani began his career as an artist in 2002, after only beginning to paint in 1999. He studied part-time under the renowned artist Edwin Ahlstrom, but Joseph is primarily self-taught. During his short course of study, Joseph earned four scholarships, The Rockville Art League Award, James O’Brien Scholarship and twice was given the Bernard Michael Painting Award. “I wanted to learn the very basics from a master and then finish my course of study on my own, with my own ideas on where to take it. I believe if you study under one artist too long, you will almost always become entrenched in their ideas and technique and you will end up as only a slightly modified version of the master who taught you. And the sense of individuality and uniqueness is more elusive and takes much longer to find.”

       Joseph has completed several public and private commissions, including a portrait for the Howard County Board of Elections in Howard County, MD, completed in 2003. He has currently completed three portraits in a series of six commissioned by DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md. to honor past principals of the school. May of 2004 brought the completion of two privately commissioned portraits, one of these a double portrait. 2005 has been a very busy year with several portrait commissions, including that of Headmaster Thomas A. Northrup for the Hill School in Middleburg VA and a privately commissioned portrait of Mrs. Royce J. Kincaid, also from Middleburg VA. “Accuracy is always on the forefront of my mind when painting portraits, and this should be for anyone who wants to paint a successful portrait. If you are not accurate from the beginning, no amount of “fiddling” or painting will replace the feeling of “something isn’t quite right”. One of the most courageous things a portrait artist can do is to scrape down a canvas after hours of work and begin a fresh portrait. I do not try to paint every little detail in a portrait, I paint only what I call “essentials”, those strokes of paint that give the illusion of detail, accuracy, and the effect of fullness in the human form. Most importantly is the overall “feel” of the portrait, if it “feels” like the sitter then that is what everyone will first react to, after that they will then appreciate the technique.”

       When not working on his portraits, Joseph likes to go out and paint landscapes on site and work on still life paintings in his studio. “I like to paint landscapes because they are such a break from the scrutiny of portrait painting. No one is going to judge a landscape on it’s accuracy the way we look at portraits, so I really enjoy just going out and having the complete power of selection and being able to paint to only my satisfaction. I also like to paint a lot of still life of flowers because I believe that flowers are just as, if not more, intricate than the human form and I like the challenge of having to put on canvas what I see in life."

       Joseph enjoys the overall freedom being an artist gives him, but it is still one of the most difficult and risky professions in which to endeavor. “I get the “are you able to make a living at it?” question constantly, but it is those types of questions and doubts that motivate me to become successful. I’ve always felt that I could become successful at anything, so why not be successful at something I would do for free? If one allows the doubts of others to enter their mind then all hope is lost. I believe that we have to avoid self-doubt, because self-doubt only happens when we take the doubts of others and make them our own.”

Artist Statement

“ I cannot, in good faith, give the type of statement that would lead people into the falsehood that I have some romantic notion about how or why I am an artist.  I want my work to be honest and representational of what my eye sees. I realize that some emotion will come through in any given piece, and that very well should be the case, but I do not make it a point to give a mind-numbing pretentious explanation about why it is. I enjoy painting whatever happens to interest my eye and whatever I think may present a challenge with paint. For me, my art is very private and meant to be looked at, my own understanding of the work is all that is needed. I leave the interpretation of my emotions or those of my subject, to the viewer. I paint what I see”.